Man, 42, charged with aggravated battery, violation of probation

Monday

Mar 11, 2013 at 4:43 PM

Police said David Luciano claimed to be defending his wife's honor when he beat a man unconscious and tried to run him over with the man's own car in the parking lot of the Pizza Hut restaurant in Dunnellon on Saturday.

Police said David Luciano claimed to be defending his wife's honor when he beat a man unconscious and tried to run him over with the man's own car in the parking lot of the Pizza Hut restaurant in Dunnellon on Saturday.

Luciano said Ross Walter Ortiz-Apple, 43, touched his wife inappropriately, so Luciano ran out of the restaurant, at 11192 N Williams St., pulled Ortiz-Apple out of his car and began pummeling him, according to reports.

Witnesses said Luciano, 42, beat Ortiz-Apple with his closed fists and then began bashing the man's head into the car until he collapsed onto the ground. Luciano then kicked the man several times in the head before he jumped into Ortiz-Apple's car and tried to run him over, according to arrest reports by the Dunnellon Police Department.

Ortiz-Apple was bleeding heavily from multiple gashes to his face and head and required staples to close his injuries, according to reports.

Luciano ran into some nearby woods. He was found at 3:22 p.m., about an hour after the attack, hiding in woods near the Dunnellon Library at 20351 Robinson Road, reports state.

Luciano was on probation for his third DUI conviction. He was booked into the Marion County Jail on one count each of aggravated battery and violation of probation. He was being held Monday without bond.